Horse stables in Sutton need planning permission -- five years after being built
The idiom ‘closing the stable door after the horse has bolted’ is being uttered, literally, along the corridors of Ashfield District Council.
For planning permission is being sought in Sutton for two horse stable blocks that were actually erected fully five years ago.
And in a similar case, a change-of-use application has been submitted for a building in Kirkby after a confusing hiatus of fully 40 years!
The stable blocks, complete with a barn and manege (riding arena or training area for horses) are based on land to the south of Greenhills House, on Cauldwell Road in Sutton.
Work began on the facilities back in April 2020 and were completed by the end of July that year.
However, five years later, a retrospective planning application has now been lodged with Ashfield District Council.
Few details are contained within the planning papers at present, but the applicant is listed as Mr G.Hunt, whose agent is Paul Stone, of the Derbyshire-based company Stone Planning Services Ltd.
The application also refers to an extension to an access track and a change of use from agricultural/forestry to equestrian.
It states: "The land was previously used for agriculture. It is now for the stabling and exercising of the applicant's personal horses."
The council's planning officers are currently considering the application and have set a deadline date of Wednesday, October 15 for a decision or recommendation.
Meanwhile, the confusion dating back to the 1980s surrounds a property at 21 The Hill, Kirkby.
The council has received plans to convert it from a commercial unit into a residential house, complete with a single-storey and two-storey rear extension, new window openings at the front and a loft conversion including dormer and front roof lights.
The application reveals that the property’s last use was registered as commercial. But “it has been a residential unit and because it has been unoccupied for nearly 40 years, the change of use was not applied”.
Currently, the building is vacant. As well as the extension, the plan is to refurbish the roof but retain the front as it is.
The application has been submitted by Ms Mansi Parmar, director of the Leicester-based form, Birstall Homes Ltd. A decision or recommendation is expected to be made by council officers before the deadline date of Thursday, September 11.